997gt3north

- just finished 2 great sunny hot days at VIR (my first visit) with an Audi group at VIR

- tried to view as much video as possible in order to learn the track prior to attending (this helped alot but 2D never captures 3D accurately and it certainly can't relay gforces but it was a great help in getting up to speed faster)

- let me start with my first and only complaint about the car - TPMS needs fixed / changed in order so that if you have to start your tire pressures low enough (i.e. 24 front, 26rear cold -> 32f,34r hot) the system doesn't remain with the message "Flat Tire" and will show you the actual pressures so that you can monitor them during the session - this absolutely pisses me off as I previously found it to be a great tool at Limerock with much colder weather where I could start at higher cold tempts and then monitor the pressures to "see / feel" when the tires got overheated / slippery) - THIS NEEDS FIXED BY PORSCHE - THEY SHOULD HAVE A SPORT/ TRACK MODE THAT CAN BYPASS THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Car Setup
- was set up with track allignment
- had full rear wing
- kept the supension in soft, should have tried hard, another white GT3 was there and he tried both and said he preferred hard on this track (it is a smooth surface for those who haven't been to VIR)

Day 1
- I was put in the intermediate group (I have about 20 track days experience + the 3day skip barber open wheel raceschool)
- first session, instructor drives 2 laps to show me the line (fabulous lady who was co-drivering with her husband a 3.8liter twin turbo rear wheel drive yellow 996/997 custom RUF doing sub 2.10s in the red group)
- we change but with the harness change and 25 minute session time limit I get about 3 lap, the first being aweful (missed everything) the second better the third ok
- session 2 and 3 I get alot better, racing line through 14/14a and 16 with tonnes of trail braking (thank you skip barber race school for making us learn this) - lap times are around 2:20
- major issue is that it was getting hard to work on smooth and fast as we kept catching cars in the wrong places that I couldn't practice the correct footwork at higher speed (into 11/12 oak tree and especially 16/17 where our line was much different than the standard intermediate line that we would gain so much ground)
- they told us not to ask to be advanced to another group and I was enjoying her instruction so much that it never occurred to me to ask and I don't really care about groups I just want to get comfortable with the car - but she said she wanted to move me up to black so that on the fourth run she would point out some stuff in my intermediate run and then have her husband ride with me in black right after and confirm if I was ok (if I was a good writer you could probably sense that things are about to go wrong)
- just prior to my next session I get a ride with a friend in the black group in his 996c2 and he is doing 2:18s - he is very smooth, is doing the uphill S's a good 5mph faster than me and he is a fantastic braker (i start to ask myself, am I actually thresshold braking with my pccbs?)
- my next rungroup I am faster for sure from what I learned from him and I discover that what I though was thresshold was maybe only 8/10ths - this point deserves discussion as while at limerock I found that the bumpy surface in the brake zones would activate ABS but here the smooth surface allows much more pedal push and really stops the car faster than I though was possible - another issue about the PCCBS that I now think "MAY" explain why I and now 5 people I know of have complained about the pedal feel changing - WHEN YOU FIRST GET THE CAR THE ENGAGEMENT POINT IS VERY HIGH AND VERY ON/OFF BECAUSE OF THE FRICTION SURFACE OF THE NEW ROTORS BUT AFTER THIS IS WARN OFF FROM YOU FIRST REALLY REALLY HOT LAPS THE NEW ENGAGEMENT POINT WILL BE LOWER AND MUCH MORE CONTROLABLE - I NOW LIKE THE NEW FEEL BUT IT HAS CHAGED
- now i will stop sreaming and get to the fun stuff and offer some stuff about what i learned about the car
- each lap in this last session before my tryout for black i think i did pretty well and i was adding speed into the brake zones + braking later and then on the second last lap coming out of the hairpin #1 I felt the backend come out a little and caught it and we continued on did fine on that lap
- last lap came in fast into #1, good braking, hit the apex was tracking out felt very in control was slowly adding gas and in the same spot the backend started to come out again, countered, countered the counter, countered the coutered the counter and then 360 spin and off into the infield between #1 and #2
- car was perfectly fine
- got back on track and finished the lap and came in for 4wheels off but session was also ending
- my mind was not in good shape
- go right back out in the black session with her husband, and drive like a beginner out of control missed a few turns, actually went off track at 5a and went straight to 6, came in quick check go back out 2 more laps all done like a clown, session over drop him off, head back to garage bay totally mentally fried
- go back over 20 minutes later an apologize 100 times for my total lack of car control skill
- I sit there and try to figure out how the hell the back end came around when I felt in total control, it was a very slow part of the track and it never happened on the previous 20+ laps???
- after about 2 hours I ask if I can go back out for 15 minutes to see if I can figure things out - we do a quick run and I realize that i had pintched the turn (not tracked out) and was applying throttle (does everyone remember the unfortunate video from last week) + in my case the tires were at the end of session and the track was getting a little slick
- I go back to the hotel, go to sleep at 8 and think about what happened all night

Day 2
- after a good night sleep I felt really refreshed, instructor told me that we would do 1 run together and she would have her husband do another test again for black (it was not back to back this time)
- first session went well - got my confidence back
- session with him went very well, other than I missed a flag on our first lap with a vet going off to the right after #6, I got a huge thumbs up from him after the checkered came out at the oak tree (I think he must have thought i was a total bafoon from the day before and had low expectations) but the session went very well, we sat down for 30 minutes afterwards and he gave lots of good constructive remarks on things to work on - and then agreed to sign me off - for what ever reason, the head dood said it was now to late to move and that I should just run with blue (didn't bother me in the slightest as afternoon on second day the track was very open)

What I learned about me / car
1) when you go off and you don't have a lot of experience going off, you are likely going to get spooked and your mind needs cooling off time to think and regroup - don't go right back out and try to get put up a group - that said, I think what I really learned here is that I have to learn to mentally recover faster from mistakes (tiger wood kind of stuff)
2) the car as setup from the factory with the swaybar settings (rear full stiff, front 1 from full soft) + factory track specs has great turnin but is neutral to very slightly loose on tires that are not HOT - so when a 30 minute session starts the car feels very good but near the very end of the session the car starts to get more loose
3) to counter this for the final 2 runs of the day and with suggestion from my instructor, I tried to get the hot tempts in the rear to 34 not to 36 and the fronts to 33/34 not 31/32 - I think this worked a bit but at the end of every session at the same spot I spun I could feel the rear end was wanting to brake away so I had to be very careful with throttle application
4) what I'm going to try for Watkins glen in a few weeks is to try and get the car to start with a little understear so that it will end up after 30 miuntes more neutral - thus I am going to try one of or both of the following - tighten the front bar by one hole maybe even two and loosen the rear bar by one hole

Summary
- the car was great
- my last session out I had the track basically to my self, was very relaxed, I have found the threshold braking point on the pccbs and they are amazing - I was 145mph into #1 braking at the #4/5 marker and #155mph into #14 braking at the #2 marker repeatedly with no fade at all
- I very comfortably and in control of the car at 8/10ths with only 20 trackdays was doing 2:17s on the final session (I think this is true testament to the car's abilities and potential in more competant hands than my own)

Finally
- I disconnected the vacuum line for the exhaust flaps for the drive down from NJ to VIR to see how it sounded - if you like horrible resonace between 2000-4000rpms I highly encourage you to do this - it was painful to me and I had to adjust when I changed gears to avoid it and plugged it back for the return drive

over and out

BobbyC

Thanks for the write-up. Very educational. Were you driving onthe MPSCs?

mamoroso

Very cool write up. Thanks!

03-turbo911

Excellent report!

I'm all for cooling off a bit after each stint. I do that all the time and reflect on the good and bad points I made and how I can improve in each sector.

silverstreak996

Appreciate the detailed write-up. VIR is a hard track to learn. Just my humble opinion, but as you still have relatively few track days, I would lay off the timing of laps for awhile and concentrate on your driving. Regardless of what timing device you are using, it must be a distraction on some level. I have 100+ track days plus numerous driving schools and I will still leave my Traqmate home tomorrow when I go up to Lime Rock for my initial outing this year. Just a thought.

JEC_31

Awseome write-up, very honest and detailed. Thanks for sharing!

997gt3north

- yes I was on the mpscs
- i am in the process of working with a local shop to see if we can fit 18" bbs wheels over the 380mm front ceramic calipers - we are waiting for bbs to ship a wheel
- when we get it and if it fits, i am going to try a different tire (very slightly smaller diameter and slightly wider)

997gt3north

i wasn't timing the events so no distraction here - we had garage bays on the front straight and had a bunch of friends in different run groups and we would watch each other from the rooms above - i never once thought about times but about trying to be smoother - the final run of the 2 days brought the most satisfaction as the track was empty i was so relaxed i was looking at all the corner workers and i felt that i didn't even push it at all - when i got in they told me my times and that i was very consistent - but your point is well taken as i can't possible imagine using that timer that comes with the car

silverstreak996

Ok, glad to hear you weren't "participating" in the timing, but sometimes just knowing you are being timed can be a distraction. Sounds like you are really into the driving, so the times will take care of themselves with more experience.

frayed

Was TC on during the spin?

eclou

I might suggest dialing out some oversteer by softening the rear sway 1 hole.

str8ner

Nice writte up. This is Stephan that posted the video from Summit where I lost it at turn #9. Having a camera in your car is a great learning tool. I wish more people would share their booboos on the track. By the way VIR was my first track with my 997 GT3 (3/17-18/07). I had a pro driver whom drives a 997 cup car drive my car. It was Bob Miller the past PCA President. He wright away said that my car was very easy to drive. Next thing you know he span my car up the Ss at more than 100mph!!! May be this car is not so easy to drive! I could feel he was driving the car too close to the limit but thought because of his bacground he probably new what he was doing! What I also learn from this is that if you are not confortable the way someone is driving your car you should slow them down and not assume that they know better than you. Cost 4 flat spotted tires and an alignment!

997gt3north

Stephan,

I learned the semipro driver not knowing the limit in my S4 1 yr ago - basically in 1 lap almost went off 3times - I knew everytime we couldn't do what we were trying to do - opposite is that you get in with a person who is just doing faster what you are trying to do and doing it well and you just say to yourself, man I wish I was that good.

Yes I plan on getting a camera - I hopefully will receive a video taken from a new Dinan M5 who was folllowing me for 3 sessions - he was a great guy and I met his wife and it was fun to run with him - we were by far the fastest in this group so he basically followed me for most of the laps - I will post the video as soon as he sends it.

Hope your car is all back together and my spin experience of slightly pinching trackout while applying the accelerator helps us all learn more about these cars - I know it has taught me a bunch.

Paul

997gt3north

frayed

yes tc was on during the spin
i didn't once see the light flashing

the only time i have seen the light was the few times at limerock when i caught air on the rear tires on the uphill - the tc would immediately flash

03-turbo911

Was The "Sport" button on as well? I remember reading that it makes "TC" even more lenient. In my near-spin I don't remember seeing the "TC" light at all as well. "Sport" button was pressed as well.